Maddening Things
by an-alternate-world
Summary: A collection of Hartmon drabbles prompted via Tumblr.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Maddening Things  
**Author: **an-alternate-world  
**Rating:** T  
**Characters/Pairing: **Cisco Ramon/Hartley Rathaway  
**Word Count:** 250  
**Summary:** A collection of Hartmon drabbles prompted via Tumblr.  
**Warnings/Spoilers:** None for this drabble.  
**Disclaimer: **I am in no way associated with _The Flash_, The CW, DC Comics or anything else related to the universe.

* * *

_**Zoe** (**seblaineandpudge**) prompted a Valentine's Day fic with the line: "Yeah, nothing says 'I love you' more than a bouquet that'll die in two days…"_

* * *

Cisco frowned at Hartley, his lower lip jutting in a pout as the flowers remain thrust towards the other male. "It's the thought that counts."

Hartley rolled his eyes and turned back to typing on the computer, his fingers a rapid tapping that reminded Cisco of a hamster spinning around a wheel. The dismissive posture infuriated him.

"_Hartley_."

"Just because I'm _gay_ doesn't mean I need _flowers_. I'm not some…pansy or whatever," Hartley said, his gaze fixed on the screen in front of him as he embedded lines of code which would transform his latest gizmo into a workable product which could potentially improve the safety of bridge construction.

Cisco looked down at the flowers and then sighed, tossing them onto the desk beside Hartley. "Well, maybe they'll die in two days but at least they mean something and if you're too much of a dick to appreciate it then-"

Hartley stood, his chair spinning around with the speed of his ascent. His lips grazed Cisco's, hesitant hands on his cheeks and fingertips on his jaw indicative of the continuing uncertainty Hartley had about their relationship.

"You like my dick anyway," Hartley muttered as he pulled away and slid into his seat again, leaving Cisco's brain spinning in his skull at how rapidly Hartley's emotions and actions fluctuated.

Cisco flicked the back of Hartley's ear. "Doesn't mean you have to let it affect your whole body," he huffed as he walked out of the lab to find Caitlin and Ronnie.

* * *

_**~FIN~**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: **Maddening Things  
**Author: **an-alternate-world  
**Rating:** T  
**Characters/Pairing: **Cisco Ramon/Hartley Rathaway  
**Word Count:** 324  
**Summary:** A collection of Hartmon drabbles prompted via Tumblr.  
**Warnings/Spoilers:** None for this drabble.  
**Disclaimer: **I am in no way associated with _The Flash_, The CW, DC Comics or anything else related to the universe.

* * *

_**Anonymous **prompted a fic which included the line: "I almost lost you."_

* * *

"I almost lost you."

Cisco smacks on his latest, improved version of handcuffs that Hartley shouldn't be able to break free from, either theoretically or practically. The closest thing he can manage to a cruel grin quirks the edge of his lips when Hartley winces at how tight they are but after all the damage Hartley has inflicted, he's not sorry that the other male is captured.

He doesn't intend on being stupid enough to give Hartley the benefit of the doubt to roam free of the prison chambers again either.

"Unfortunately for you, I know you well enough to track you down," Cisco says, cinching the handcuffs another click tighter, enjoying the flicker of pain that twitches a muscle near Hartley's eye. A little payback is only fair after the torment Hartley has put them all through. The fact Barry had nearly died didn't improve Cisco's lackluster amount of commiserations either.

"Cisco…" Hartley's fingers curl into Cisco's shirt, tugging him closer even though Cisco is unwilling to get too close to the other male. Maybe he'd once trusted Hartley, maybe he'd once believed he could achieve redemption, but not anymore.

"You're still a dick," Cisco hisses, his eyes narrowing into a glare. "And even though I can't say that in six different languages, I mean it in every single one of them."

Hartley doesn't look that upset. In fact, he looks…pleased at the assessment and leans close to Cisco's ear to whisper, "I guess you know where I am if you want to hear me curse in all six languages again too."

Cisco refuses to acknowledge his cheeks feel warmer or that he's thinking about the history he once shared with the other male. He marches Hartley down to the chamber and keeps his eyes averted when he shuts the door, unwilling to give into the charm that oozes off Hartley and he shouldn't be stupid enough to forget is incredibly dangerous again.

* * *

_**~FIN~**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: **Maddening Things  
**Author: **an-alternate-world  
**Rating:** T  
**Characters/Pairing: **Cisco Ramon/Hartley Rathaway  
**Word Count:** 939  
**Summary:** A collection of Hartmon drabbles prompted via Tumblr.  
**Warnings/Spoilers:** None for this drabble.  
**Disclaimer: **I am in no way associated with _The Flash_, The CW, DC Comics or anything else related to the universe.

* * *

_**Zoe** (**seblaineandpudge**) prompted a fic which included the line: "Please don't do this."_

* * *

Cisco tosses and turns the entire night before he prepares to further investigate why the force field failed to trap the Reverse Flash. His brain churns through the numbers, trying to analyse the data without his computer in the hopes of explaining why the super capacitors failed despite his computer indicating they were fully charged. He can't pinpoint what's going on but his anxiety ratchets higher and higher during the night because the only explanation he can come up with is that Doctor Wells tampered with the force field – and that's a possibility he doesn't want to entertain for long.

By the time his alarm goes off, it's a welcome relief.

He arrives at S.T.A.R. Labs as early as possible and hopes Caitlin is successful in keeping Wells at bay. He logs onto the computers and starts crunching numbers, searching for something he might have missed yesterday, trying to decode where the failure occurred. The problem is that there isn't a problem. The numbers are exactly the same as the day before and it still doesn't make any sense to him. He can't comprehend that an error occurred which was so profound that his machinery failed but the computer insists that everything should have been fine. Is there a bug in the computers? Or was the force field messed with?

The computers don't give him any information he doesn't already know or understand, which leaves him with investigating the super capacitors themselves. He's halfway there when he has a change of mind and descends to the pipeline, instead thinking there's a conversation he may need to have first. It's not like he _wants_ to have it but he has a feeling he _has_ to in an attempt to understand what's going on.

He punches in his codes, watching the door slide apart and the pod approach him. He _almost_ feels bad at how peacefully Hartley appears to be asleep on the floor when it's barely 8am but…it's the least he can do to get back at the other male for all the destruction he's caused.

He raps his knuckles against the glass and Hartley shifts, stirs, before his eyes slowly open and a smile crawls across his face when he recognises who it is. He scoots around, knees pulled to his chest, groping for his glasses as he blinks blearily at Cisco.

"Well, well," Hartley drawls, placing his glasses on his nose and covering his yawn with a hand to his mouth, "if it isn't the third most intelligent man in S.T.A.R. Labs. What can I do for you?"

Cisco struggles not to frown or get annoyed and start defending himself. He knows Hartley is deliberately trying to reel him in and he has more important things to discuss right now.

"I engineered something designed to trap someone dangerous," he says, folding his arms over his chest. "The computer system said that the super capacitors were failing so I had to shut it down, letting the person go. Except the computers now say that it shouldn't have failed and I- I'm afraid Doctor Wells might have had something to do with it."

Hartley's shoulders stiffen and he rises to his feet, approaching the glass which separates them and pressing his hands to the surface. "Don't question whether Doctor Wells is a threat to your safety, Cisco," Hartley says, his stare piercing and his mouth in a thin line. "It's dangerous. It will get you killed."

"I _have_ to," he insists, shaking his head and wondering if talking to Hartley was actually a disaster. "The person might have killed the mother of someone I care about. I _have_ to know what went wrong and I have to know if Doctor Wells is involved."

"No, you _don't_," Hartley fires back but Cisco doesn't want to listen to him. He thought Hartley would have encouraged his investigating, his determination to understand. Hartley's doubts only allow his own to blossom and he doesn't that. Hartley seems…concerned and he doesn't need that either. "Listen, Cisco. Wells is very intelligent and very powerful. He can also be very dangerous. You need to let this go."

"Don't you get it?" Cisco snaps, approaching the pod and slamming his palms against the glass. Hartley flinches and backs up a step. "I _can't_ let it go! I don't understand it! If I'm working with a murderer then I have to know!"

"If you're working with a murderer then there's nothing to stop him from murdering _you_!" Hartley shouts and Cisco shakes his head, disbelief clouding his judgement. Even if he got caught, Wells wouldn't kills him. Cisco was a valuable and important asset to the team. He wouldn't be dispensed so easily.

"I have to understand," he whispers, because despite Hartley's warnings, despite Hartley's demands, that fact remains true. He draws away from the glass even when Hartley needlessly tries to reach for him.

"Don't," Hartley says, his voice dropping to a plea. "Please, Cisco. Please don't do this. You don't understand what you're meddling with."

Cisco wondered if Hartley knew more than he let on or if Hartley was just a paranoid man on the inside of a glass cage. Regardless, Cisco knew he had to investigate the super capacitors and the force field and understand what had gone wrong – even if it cost him his life.

"I guess I'll soon find out," he murmurs, turning away from Hartley, jabbing his finger at the screen to lock his former colleague away, and stalking away. Behind him, Hartley was yelling and hammering on the glass but he tuned it out. He _had _to understand what had gone wrong.

* * *

_**~FIN~**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Title: **Maddening Things  
**Author: **an-alternate-world  
**Rating:** T  
**Characters/Pairing: **Cisco Ramon/Hartley Rathaway  
**Word Count:** 360  
**Summary:** A collection of Hartmon drabbles prompted via Tumblr.  
**Warnings/Spoilers:** None for this drabble.  
**Disclaimer: **I am in no way associated with _The Flash_, The CW, DC Comics or anything else related to the universe.

* * *

_**Zoe** (**cisc0ram0n**) prompted a fic which included the line: "I'm sick of being USELESS."_

* * *

He clenches his hands in his hair, pulling at the roots as he stares at another invention which has failed for reasons he can't even begin to fathom. All his designs and re-designs, all his careful planning and construction and troubleshooting, appears to have been for naught.

He's not used to failure.

He doesn't like it.

"Still a bust?" Cisco says as he saunters in, another dorky t-shirt reducing his age by at least a decade to something more like a schoolboy geek. It's a thing he's not sure he'll ever truly understand.

"I don't understand why," he admits, a rare moment of weakness in front of the other male because Cisco's a pain in the ass - a rival - but he doesn't have Hartley's respect the same way that Doctor Wells does. He can't bear the thought of ever letting his genius mentor down.

"Well have you checked the flux capacitor? The cabling that acts as a conduit for power? The connections between the plates? The meta that-"

Cisco rattles off a dozen things that he's already checked and checked again. He understands it's Cisco's habit of trying to help, even if it borders on irritating sometimes, but in some ways it only serves to reinforce that this _shouldn't_ be failing but it _is_.

"I'm sick of feeling so damn _useless_," he complains, thumping his head on the desk a few times which is uncomfortable for the glasses against his eyes. He has a significantly larger increase in his intelligence compared to Cisco, a few extra years in which he should have honed his craft for elaborate technology and yet…

He's stumped by the failure.

"It's okay," Cisco says, patting a hand against his shoulder awkwardly before he pulls back and Hartley folds his arms around his waist, his frustrating making his temper flare beyond his control. "You'll figure it out."

He barely spares himself the biting words of, "_When_?" or "_And if I keep failing? Will I lose my funding?_" and instead scrunches his brow in concentration, desperate to discern what it is that is making his latest project a catastrophic failure rather than a monumental success.

* * *

_**~FIN~**_


End file.
